Coming Home
by JWolf28
Summary: After Endgame, Clint goes home to the farm and contemplates how to tell the family The News. Endgame spoilers inside. Also, Clintasha friendship, and the Barton family snuggles.


**A/N: I was more than a little heartbroken over Natasha's death in Endgame, so this is my fix-it. **

When Clint turned up on the farm, it was with a heavy heart. The last time he'd been there had been five years prior and the family was having lunch while waiting for Nat to return from Europe for a visit. Now he had to tell them that visit would never come.

The kids ran to meet him in the yard and it was an amazing, sappy, movie-worthy moment. Yes, he'd seen them earlier in the week when Pepper was nice enough to fly them in for the funeral, but it had put a damper on the whole reunion, so this was even better. He'd sent them home before himself to tie up some loose ends and talk to Wanda a bit before returning home. Laura was running out not long later and it was even more emotional and Clint almost felt whole. Almost. He forced a smile for his family, hating what he was about to say. "Why don't we go inside? I have something I have to tell you guys."

They all followed his lead, faces falling as they took in his tone, and probably guessed his news. God, how was he going to get it out without breaking down?

And then they were all inside and Clint froze in shock at what he saw before drawing his gun and training it on the figure sipping lemonade at his kitchen table. "Who the hell are you?"

She actually fucking smirked as she spoke and Clint's heart felt like it was about to beat out of his chest at her response. "Natalia, daughter of Ivan."

The gun fell from limp fingers and the archer didn't give it a second thought before he ran to her and embraced her tightly. "How? What? Huh?"

Natasha laughed, holding onto him with the same strength before shoving him away and he took the chance to take her in. "How are you here?"

She took a deep breath. "It's a hell of a story."

"I've got time."

Her eyes shifted to the stove and the timer on it and she chuckled. "Not enough before dinner. We'll talk after the kids go to bed."

Both Lila and Cooper groaned, the former staring beseechingly at her. "But, Auntie Nat, we wanna know too!"

The redhead smiled fondly at the teenager and ruffled her hair. "And someday you will. But not tonight. Tonight we're all going to enjoy our time together before I have to tell the rest of the Avengers that I'm here."

Clint's face fell at the reminder. "Um, Nat… there's something you need to know. About Tony."

The smile dropped off of her face and tears welled in her eyes. "No. Tell me he didn't."

"Yeah. We had all the stones. Bruce brought everyone back. But somewhere along the way Nebula was compromised and replaced with her 2014 version. That Nebula brought 2014 Thanos forward with his army and he tried to level the world. The only way to stop him was with the stones. So he did what had to be done. And it killed him."

Natasha's lip trembled, her face flushed as she held back her tears. "There was no other way?"

"No."

"Damn it."

Clint pulled her back into his arms and held her tight, and it wasn't long before another pair of arms joined in, Lila sobbing into Natasha's back. Then Cooper was wrapping his arms around the three of them and then Nathaniel was clinging to her leg and Laura was gathering them all up against her. It was the best group hug Clint had ever been a part of- not that there were many to compare to. They stayed like that for a while before the timer went off, signaling dinner. The kids went to wash up and the adults set the table and made sure everything was ready.

Later that night, after awesome (altered for child friendliness) battle stories had been told and the kids were sleeping peacefully, Clint, Laura, and Natasha were on the couch sipping beer, wine, and vodka respectfully. With Laura on one side, and Natasha on the other, Clint was the happiest sandwich on the planet. "So, Nat. How'd you get yourself out of that one? It seemed pretty permanent. Looked like it, too."

She took a deep breath. "Well, after you got teleported away… I was dead. I knew that. Felt it. But my… soul, I suppose lingered on Vormir. But only a couple minutes later, Steve showed up. Returning the stones, I suppose. I figure that not putting them back would open up a whole new avenue for terrible futures in alternate realities or whatever." At the baffled looks she was getting from her friends, she smirked. "What? I read. It was all there was to do the last five years, really."

The other two chuckled, and Natasha took a drink of her vodka before continuing. "Anyway, Cap came along and talked briefly with the floating red guy- that was Red Skull, by the way- and then tossed the soul stone off the cliff before taking off in his suit. Had he been there any longer, he might have had the time to see me. Because when the stone hit the ground, I woke up in this lake of some sort. I don't know.

"I wanted to get back to you guys obviously, but my suit was damaged in the fall. Tony's time GPS was broken and I only had enough Pym Particles for one trip. Not to mention the fact that I was stuck on a planet with no way to get back to Earth. It was a tough situation, but I decided to try my chances navigating without any idea of where I was going. I ended up in 2018. About a week before the snap. With no ID and no money, it was tough to get to you guys. I was trying to come here, but I was in freaking Switzerland when I got back. It took time. I was about a day away from here when the snap happened. And just my luck, I got snapped away, too. Almost like the universe knew I didn't belong there. Not in that time, anyway. When we all got brought back, I finally, finally made it, you guys weren't home. I wasn't sure if you'd moved the family again, or whatnot, but I decided to lay low until I could figure out a way to find you."

Clint sighed. "We were at Tony's funeral. Shame we missed you."

"Nah. You needed to be there. I just wish I could have been, too."

The archer smiled, resting his head atop hers. "I can't wait for everyone to find out you're alive. Bruce went a little more Hulk-y than he has been when you didn't come back."

Natasha winced. "Maybe I should stay dead a little longer."

Laura laughed. "What? I thought you like him? You guys got on so well when you were here last."

"It's just… How do you say 'Well, I liked you when you were a quiet, kind scientist with anger issues, but now you're a green not-so-rage monster full time and that's really weird and one hell of a turn off' without coming off as a bitch?"

That had both Clint and Laura in stitches, and once they calmed down, Laura offered "Well, you can hang here for a while and we'll figure it out along with way."

Natasha smiled, finishing off her drink, and if her voice was a little choked and rough when she said, "Sounds perfect." Well, they blamed it on the vodka.

The End

**A/N: So, I realized when I was almost done with this one-shot that I'd fudged the timeline between the funeral and Clint coming back to the farm, so I tried to fix it. Hope it flowed alright. Leave and review letting me know, please and thanks. Also, if there's interest, I'd be down for writing a sequel where the rest of who's left finds out she's alive. Love y'all 3000!**


End file.
